Pat Shingleton: "Weather and Locusts"

Heavy rain and mild temperatures in Northwest Africa can increase the number of locusts. When skies are overcast, locusts create a swarming configuration that is spread-out. During hot weather, locusts will more likely form swarms that can be a mile high. Locusts can destroy a field of crops in a matter of hours and in Africa these bugs strike regularly. In Northwest Africa, locusts have infested an estimated seven to ten million acres of land. Weatherwise magazine reports that desert locusts consume their own weight of food each day. In twenty-four hours, a small area of swarming locusts eat enough food to feed 2,500 people. By monitoring weather conditions, The National Meteorological and HydrologicalServices will be working in conjunction with the World Meteorological Organization and containment specialists to predict the breeding rates of swarms to better eradicate them with pesticides.